


Distortions in the Mirror of Time

by Walkerbaby



Series: Life With The Master [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-12 00:25:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Walkerbaby/pseuds/Walkerbaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor has to deal with the return of the Master, and his long lost companion</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It all belongs to the BBC and RTD

Chapter One

 

He stared hard at the woman pacing inside Jack’s office. She was angry, he could tell. Fratchety, Owen had called her and he could see the medical doctor watching the glass office carefully, silently observing her condition. 

__

"Jack," he’d uttered the minute they were out of sight. 

"Doctor?" The panicked voice on the other end answered. "Doctor what’s wrong?" 

"The rift." 

"What’s wrong with the rift?" 

"The Master," he’d swallowed. "He’s landed the Tardis somewhere near the rift. You need to get there and stop him from leaving." 

"Right," Jack answered. "Gwen, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, we need to get to the rift. Now!" 

"Jack," he’d leaned back against the department store wall heavily. "He’s got Martha with him." 

"Martha?" 

"And their children. Don’t," his voice cracked. "Don’t do something typically stupid and Torchwood like. Don’t upset Martha." 

"Children?" Jack repeated. 

"Don’t let anyone get hurt," he’d pleaded quietly. "Especially Martha and the children." 

"Ok Doctor," Jack answered in a soothing tone. "Get here as soon as you can. I don’t have to tell you we’re going to need your help on this." 

"I’m coming in now," the Doctor agreed. 

He’d dropped the toaster he’d been holding on the nearest shelf and had taken the back exit out of the store, grabbed the scooter Jack had bought for him and raced toward Torchwood. He had Martha. The Master had Martha and the Doctor knew, knew that whatever had happened he was holding her to him somehow with hypnosis. This was not Martha Jones. Martha Jones had walked the world to defeat the Master, she wouldn’t just willingly marry him and have his children. She couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t do that. She knew what the Master was. What he’d done. 

She loves me, the Doctor thought to himself. If nothing else tells me this is wrong that fact does. Martha Jones is in love with me, the Doctor. She can’t have taken up with the Master because she loves me and I love her. Sure I didn’t tell her but she knew. She knew I loved her and needed her and that I didn’t think she was second best to Rose. She didn’t need me to tell her that. Everything the Master’s saying is a lie, he’s holding her by hypnosis. 

He’d let the scooter skid to a halt near some rubbish bins a few streets over from Torchwood. The local pizza place let him keep his scooter there rather than pay for the meters and the Doctor made sure Torchwood ordered pizza two nights a week. Reaching for the helmet he’d been too distracted to put on, he turned and saw it on the back of the scooter when he couldn’t find the straps. 

Deciding not to worry about bike safety for the moment he raced toward the rift. It was active. He could feel it pulsing with life and Time. Something was exciting it and the Doctor knew it had to be the Tardis, what worried him was that while he could feel the excitation of the rift he couldn’t feel the Tardis. It wasn’t in his mind. The Master wasn’t in his mind. He could feel neither of them and that meant something was seriously wrong. 

The scream had told him he was too late. That there wasn’t a way for him to solve this. He’d heard Martha scream as he rounded the corner and his hearts broke as he saw them. Jack was behind the Master, handcuffing the silent Time Lord while Gwen and Tosh kept restraining hands on Martha. 

"You can’t do this Jack!" She screamed. "Leave him alone!" 

"Martha!" Jack looked as though she’d been possessed by some type of alien. "It’s the Master! He’s under the custody of Torchwood." 

"This is all the Doctor’s doing isn’t it?" He could see she was crying then and the children in the pram had erupted into wails as well. He watched as Ianto knelt in front of it and began to rock it back and forth soothingly, calming the twins. He was good with children, the Doctor thought absently, small animals, raging weevils, Jack, all irrational beings seemed to be comforted by Ianto. 

"Do we really need to do this here?" He heard the Master grumble. "You’re making quite a scene out of this." 

"He’s right," Jack announced. "Everyone, inside now. Take Martha and the children to my office while I take this thing down to the cells." 

"Want to switch roles?" The Master asked sarcastically. "I keep telling you Freak you really aren’t my type." 

"Shut it," Jack answered as he tugged the Master toward the secret entrance to Torchwood. 

"Gwen, Tosh," the Doctor called out then. "Let go of Martha. I’ll take her and the children inside. There’s no need to treat her like a criminal." He watched the two women as they looked at Jack, after 5 years they still didn’t trust him to make a decision without Jack’s approval. When Jack nodded Gwen released her grip on Martha’s shoulder and Tosh took her hands away from the pram. The Doctor tried his best to smile at both of them reassuringly. He could handle this. 

"Martha," he tried to sound soothing. She’d been hypnotized and made to do Rassilon knew what against her will, he was sure she was agitated by that. 

"Get away from me you bastard," she snapped. 

"Martha," the Master stopped and forced Jack to turn so he could look at her. When she looked up the Doctor could see the other Time Lord smile reassuringly at her. "Just do what he says Martha. Don’t fight him on this. We’ll sort this out, the Doctor and I. Won’t we Doctor?" The other Time Lord looked at him. 

"Of course," the Doctor answered reflexively. "We’ll work this out in no time. You just need to go to Jack’s office and rest while we do." 

"Shut up," she snapped at the Doctor. 

"Martha," the Master’s voice was still soothing. "Please, go to the Freak’s office with the children while we sort this out. Please, because I’m asking you to." 

When she nodded the Doctor reached out to place a guiding hand on her shoulder. "Don’t you touch me!" She growled. "You stay away from me." He’d moved his hand away silently then. It would just take time for her to heal from this. In time they could mend what they had. 

That had been an hour ago and she was still pacing Jack’s office angrily. Hadn’t spoken to anyone except to politely refuse the tea Ianto offered. She had just paced, occasionally walking one of the twins in her arms as she did. Jack was still dealing with the Master and the Doctor had simply stood by Owen’s desk and watched the office above him. 

"I need to check her over," Owen said decisively.. "Think she’ll let me examine her if you go along?" 

"What?" 

"I need to examine her. Take her blood pressure, her pulse, make sure she and the child aren’t in distress. We don’t want what happened earlier to have consequences for her health. I don’t know what signs I’m looking for in a Time Lord fetus, I’ll need your input." 

"I don’t know," the Doctor muttered. 

"You don’t know if she’ll let us?" Owen asked. 

"No, I don’t know what the signs of fetal distress would be." The Doctor answered. "We didn’t do live birth on Gallifrey for thousands of years before it was destroyed in the Time War. I don’t know what to look for." 

"Right," Owen grumbled. "Another time for Owen to guess at the delicate complexity of medicine. Why didn’t I do like my mother wanted?" 

"What’s that?" 

"Cosmetic surgeon," Owen answered. "So much more money and so little stress." 

"Doctor!" Jack’s voice rang out suddenly. 

"What Jack?" He answered wearily and looked up at the office again.

"Has she said anything to anyone?" 

"No." 

"I want you to come down and question the Master. He isn’t telling me anything. All he does is ask about Martha and the children. Says he won’t tell me anything until we guarantee she’s all right. I want you to talk to him." 

"Let Owen check her over," the Doctor answered. "There’s your excuse Owen. Tell her the Master’s requesting she be looked at before he’ll talk to us." 

"Think that will help?" Owen asked. 

"I do." The Doctor agreed. "Once she’s checked over I’ll go talk with the Master and see what we can get." 

"Thank you," Jack clapped him on the back. 

"Don’t thank me yet," the Doctor answered. "We haven’t gotten anything from him."   
  


  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> none of the characters are mine except the twins and their bears. Everything else belongs to Auntie and RTD. I only get to dream about the Master.

"How’s Martha?" Was the first question the Doctor heard when he stepped into the cells beneath Torchwood. The other Time Lord could feel his presence. Knew he was there but if Jack hadn’t told him where they’d taken the Master he would have never known where to find him. Even as close as he’d been to the children, seen them, he still couldn’t feel them as a Time Lord should. They were masked somehow against his recognition.

"Owen says she and the children are fine. The children are eating peanut butter and jam sandwiches that Ianto made for them and coloring on Jack’s blotter and Martha is resting on the sofa watching them."

"I don’t believe you," the Master answered flatly. "I want to see them. Take me upstairs to see them."

"I’ll send Martha down when we’re done." The Doctor countered.

"You’ll do no such thing," the Master said hotly. "Under no conditions are you to allow her down here. I’ll see my wife and children upstairs, I’ll do it under guard but it will not be in these cells. Agree now or leave. Those are my terms."

"Master," the Doctor sighed. "I don’t think Jack will agree."

"Well then leave," the Master waved a hand dismissively at him and then returned to the bunk against the wall.

"Master," the Doctor leaned his head against the glass partition.

"No. Not if the only way I can see her is inside one of these cells."

"Fine but first tell me why it’s so important."

"The Freak says they intend to execute me. Crimes against humanity, kidnapping, rape, forced breeding of an alien species on a human, every thing he can think of. Might even throw in a few cattle rustling charges that the locals still have unsolved."

"They aren’t going to execute you," the Doctor answered. It was a threat. Jack was angry. He knew Jack was angry and as usual his Torchwood training was taking over. If the Doctor didn’t reign him in he’d simply kill anything alien that acted threatening. The Master would be top of his list. He wasn’t going to allow Torchwood to execute the Master. They were all that was left, the Doctor and the Master. His children, he thought suddenly. The Doctor, the Master, and his children.

"I’ll leave you to persuade Captain Jack how you best see fit," the Master quirked a brow. "None the less, if this is going to be the last time I see my wife and children I’m not doing it in a cell. Martha deserves better."

"Wait! What?" The Doctor scoffed. "You can’t be serious? That’s the line you’re going to use? Really? Martha deserves better?"

"You want to be responsible for bringing my children into a jail full of aggressive weevils Doctor? My pregnant wife and unborn son? Who just so you know I already have a telepathic link with so he’ll know too?" The Master countered. "How much would that screw them up? The last time they saw their Daddy he was surrounded by baying, deformed beast that gnashed their teeth and pounded the glass because they were craving humanoid flesh. Then the bad men who made Mummy cry and put their daddy with the weevils executed Daddy. I’m requesting a traditional Time Lord execution by the way. It’s my right."

"He’s not going to execute you," the Doctor snapped.

"No," the Master glared. "He couldn’t. You would. Like I said think about how scarred they’ll be. The man who made Mummy cry, locked their Daddy up and made them face monsters to see him, then took Daddy out at sunrise and cut off his head over and over until Daddy quit regenerating. You’ll destroy their fragile little psyches. Shatter them."

"You’re not going to die!" The Doctor screamed and slammed his fists against the glass. "I just need to know what you’ve done to Martha and why! After that you can get out of the cell. Tell me what I want to know and then we’ll take the Tardis and leave. You and me. It’s the only safe place for you."

"You and me? Aren’t you forgetting three people, soon to be four?" The Master countered.

"I can’t imagine she’ll want anything to do with you once I break the hypnosis you’re holding her under."

"I’ll tell you what you want to know," the Master shrugged. "Everything you want to know. As many times as you want to hear it. In return I can see Martha and the children upstairs. Under guard if you insist. But I do it upstairs and away from the weevils."

"Deal," the Doctor agreed and looked the Master square in the eye as he nodded. "What did you do to Martha?"

"Treated her like she deserved."

"Don’t talk in riddles. Let’s start at the beginning then. Why did you take Martha hostage?"

"To get inside the Tardis. I’d planned on dropping her back on Earth originally. Six months or so in the future."

"What happened?"

"Came up with a better idea."

"What?"

"To get revenge on you."

"To get revenge on me?"

"Your one weakness. I planned on exploiting it to get revenge."

"What’s that?"

"What’s what?"

"My one weakness. What is it?"

"You want to be loved," the Master answered.

"That’s not weak," the Doctor argued.

"It is when you can’t express love back to someone."

"Shut up."

"Fine," the Master agreed and lay backwards on the cot. "When can I see Martha? I answered your questions I get to see Martha and the children. That was the deal."

"This evening. After they’ve had dinner."

"Dinner included."

"No."

"Dinner included. Takes two of us to keep them in line during dinner. Leo’s a fussy eater and Tish is a general terror. Martha will need help feeding them and putting them to sleep. I get from dinner until the children are in bed."

"Fine."

"Go upstairs and tell Martha to take a nap with the children. Make sure she puts her feet up. They get swollen if she doesn’t."

"You know you’re in no position to make demands?" The Doctor argued.

"They aren’t demands, they’re requests for my wife and children’s welfare. Please go upstairs and politely ask Martha if she would be so kind as to take a nap at the same time as the children because I’ve requested she not make herself ill. Also please request that she puts her feet up so that her ankles don’t swell and cause her to be in agony all day tomorrow. It would be greatly appreciated." The Master said in his most syncophantic tone.

"Fine," the Doctor answered. "Since it’s for Martha’s sake. One last question."

"What?"

"Her ring."

"What about it?"

"Where did you find a fake Niczean love knot?"

The Master smiled at him then. "I didn’t. Got it at a bazaar on Niczea Three. Definite article."

"How did you override it?"

"That’s two questions."

"Answer it."

"I didn’t. I followed all the rules. Gave her the ring, proposed, everything I said to her was true. Followed the rules to the letter. Down to the minute detail."

"You didn’t tell her you loved her?" The Doctor asked.

The Master stood and walked over to the glass. Once there he glared at the Doctor malevolently and then smiled. "I didn’t have to."

"Didn’t have to?"

"She already knew."

The Doctor stepped away from the glass then. He looked at the Time Lord standing in front of him. His arch enemy. His best friend. The monster behind the glass. The Time Lord who had taken Martha Jones.

She already knew. It took everything in his power to remain walking as he left the cells behind. It took everything in his power not to run and flee.


	3. Distortions in the Mirror of Time (3/9)

Distortions in the Mirror of Time (3/9)  
Rating - PG-13 (language)   
Disclaimer - It's Auntie Beebs playground, RTD's sandbox, I'm just here for the shovels and buckets.   
  


  


Chapter Three

He tried not to grimace as he watched them together. The relief on her face, the mocking way in which the other Time Lord acted concerned for her. He didn’t want to watch the Master pretend to care about his children. Couldn’t stand the change in Martha’s face as she took her eyes from the Master and looked over at him.  

"Why is he here?" She muttered. 

"That was the agreement I made," the Master answered her in that mock soothing tone he liked to use to get his way. "I have from dinner until the twins go to bed to spend with you but we have to do it under guard. I assume He is our guard." 

The glare she gave him then caused the Doctor to wilt. Like something on her shoe. Like the most reprehensible thing in the universe. Like he was the monster in this piece. "I don’t want him here," she announced. 

"It’s the bargain I made luv," the Master took Leo from her so that he was holding a child balanced on each hip. "Best I could do. Now tell me how things are going here. They’re treating you properly? They’ve checked you over? The terrors are behaving like they should?" 

"We’re fine," she whispered so softly the Doctor could barely hear her. "We’re completely fine. I need to arrange to get the children some clothes and their bears, I don’t know where we’re sleeping tonight but the twins won’t sleep without their bears." 

"Doctor," the Master turned to look at him condescendingly. "My wife needs to go into the Tardis and retrieve some personal items. Send the Freak or the other Doctor up here to guard me until dinner arrives and take her to the Tardis." 

"I’ll send Jack to retrieve whatever she needs," the Doctor answered. 

"Now Doctor," the Master shook his head. "You know that’s not the way of it. I mean really. Knowing the Freak he’ll want to try on her knickers. You send him up to watch me and the children and take Martha to the Tardis. We’ll all feel much better about this if you just do it my way instead of fighting. Besides it will give you a chance to talk to her, realize I’m not keeping her against her will." 

"The children come with us," the Doctor announced. "If you are keeping her against her will, Martha won’t say anything if you have her children hostage." 

"Fine," the Master nodded. "I’m not holding anyone by force but you’re going to have to either put them in the pram or carry them for her. I recommend the pram, Tish gets squirmy when she’s carried too long." 

"Deal," the Doctor nodded before opening the door to converse with Ianto just outside of it. Jack would come sit with the Master while he took Martha to the Tardis. Instead of going back and forth to retrieve things though the Doctor would simply move it inside Torchwood until the matter at hand was resolved. He could lock it so that it couldn’t be moved without the override and then Martha and the children could sleep in their own beds at night. Might make things easier for them to adjust back to Earth slowly. 

He stood silently and watched as they sat on Jack’s sofa together. Not speaking, not crying, not anything really. Martha at one end of the sofa sitting upright with Leo on her right knee, his head buried shyly in the curve of her stomach. The Master, shoes kicked off, lying with his head in her lap, one hand reaching up to touch Leo’s tiny hand, Tish lying on his chest with her chubby arms around his neck, and his head turned so that his forehead was gently touching Martha’s swollen abdomen. All three Time Lords appeared to be asleep, each with slight smiles curving across their lips. 

They were, he shook his head. It wasn’t possible. Legend. Myth. Not real. They were communing, he realized. Something legend said Time Lords had done as family units. Something that had been deemed improper, bad for the civilization as a whole. The family unit was considered bad for the civilization as a whole. The ideas of love, commitment, they weren’t what Time Lord marriage was intended for. A life of the mind, a deeper understanding of the whole of space and time with a companion, someone to challenge you intellectually. Marriages were based on intellectual compatibility, they weren’t, they weren’t - this. 

It was obscene, instinctual disgust reared in him instantly. What they were doing was obscene. A perversion of Time Lord beliefs. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from them. Communing, a telepathic link between them. Martha would be unable to feel most of it, she’d be able to feel the residuals through her link with the unborn child but otherwise she’d be unaware. Communing, linking the Master to the twins, to the unborn child, to each other. A continuous feedback loop of love and affection. Of shared knowledge. It was, it was peaceful. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and staring at it made him feel unclean. 

The sharp knock at the door drew his attention away from the spectacle on the sofa. He briefly saw Martha rub the Master’s back absently as he roused himself and adjusted the children so he could sit up next to her, Tish on his lap. "Owen told me to find out what Martha wanted for dinner." Jack announced. "Said it should be her choice. She’d know what nutrients her body needed." 

"Beans on toast?" Martha asked as she kissed the Master gently on the cheek before levering herself upright. 

"Don’t tease Martha, they really will bring that if you ask for it." The Time Lord countered. "I haven’t done anything yet to deserve a diet of beans on toast." 

"When’s the last time I made you eat beans on toast?" Martha countered as he kissed both children on the forehead again. 

"After the birth of Leo and Tish," he answered. "Said something about how it was all I deserved after the pain I put you through and not having the decency to be in the delivery room so you could tell me how much you hated me." 

"That’s right," she smiled. "Then you took me to that vacation planet that was a spa to make up for it. I remember now." 

"Are you two finished?" Jack asked abruptly and the Doctor could tell he was tense. Angry. Confused by the situation. "What do you really want or should I order beans on toast?" 

"Macaroni and cheese and some chicken fingers. Milk for the children. They might like strawberry ice cream for desert." 

"Milk for Martha as well," the Master added. 

"I’m taking her order not yours," Jack snapped. 

"And milk for me as well." Martha added pointedly. "Please." 

"Fine," the Doctor watched as Jack relayed the request to Ianto outside and then settled himself behind the desk. He watched as Martha secured the twins into their pram and moved forward to take the handle. 

"Get away from my children," she growled heatedly and he stepped away. "You stay away from them." 

He just nodded and followed her out of Torchwood and toward the rift. "Martha," he started gently. "You know you don’t have to go back in there don’t you? I can arrange somewhere for you and the children to stay. My flat if you like. I’ll sleep on the sofa or here at Torchwood. Whatever you like. Tomorrow we could call your parents. Explain as much of the situation as you want to. They’ll be so glad to see you Martha they’ve been so worried. You can’t imagine how heartbroken Francine has been. I’m sure by the end of the week we could have you and the children moved right back home to London. Set up in your own flat if you like. Everything like it was." 

"Like it was?" She repeated as she stopped the pram in front of the Tardis and unlocked it with her key. "What makes you think anything could be like it was? I don’t want to go home to London and be with my family. My family is here in Cardiff, where my children and I will stay until you decide to release my husband." 

"Martha," he sighed. "Let me look at you. Turn your head and let me look in your eyes." He reached out to touch her temples with his fingertips. "Whatever the block is he’s put up to keep you hypnotized I can break it." 

She jerked her head away and pushed the pram into the Tardis. He followed along helplessly behind. They had redecorated. The ramps were gone. At the doorway instead there was a slight step with a gate in front of it. Once on the raised floor he noticed it was slightly squishy, the support beams were gone as well. No rails, no corners, a big comfy couch where his pilot’s chair had been. More gates surrounding the console. "You let him pen her up again," he accused. 

"The Master didn’t do this," Martha answered. "The Tardis did. When the children started crawling. There’s a door near the sofa. Reach your hand inside, press the inner button at the same time as the outer button and then pull it toward you." 

"What?" 

"Safety gate," she explained. "Latch is set high enough up and is complicated enough that the children can’t get it open. Keeps them from getting hurt on the console." 

"The Tardis did this?" He asked. 

"She’s very protective." Martha explained. 

"I’ll move it into Torchwood," the Doctor answered. "You and the children can sleep in here until you decide where you want to go. Better for them if we don’t upset their little worlds too much." 

"Fine," she agreed quietly as he opened the gate. The Tardis zapped him viciously and he pulled back his hand, shaking it slightly. 

"That hurt," he accused the machine and tried to program Torchwood’s coordinates into her. The keys were stuck though and the Tardis didn’t move. "He’s jammed her somehow," the Doctor explained to Martha. 

"Move," she sighed. "She’s gone into child safety override. She doesn’t want you to pilot her. I’ll do it." 

"You’ll do it?" He asked. 

"First thing he taught me how to do," she answered. "Prove to me I wasn’t a captive. He taught me how to fly the Tardis and even wrote down the coordinates for home. In case I wanted to go back." 

"And?" The Doctor looked at her. 

"We went to China instead. Met Marco Polo, got seduced by the Khan, fled for our lives in the middle of the night and the Master has a death sentence hanging over him now. Imperial five horse method. We’ve decided to go back when the Manchu’s take power." She finished entering the coordinates and hit the enter key. The machine wheezed once and then shook as it rematerialized inside Torchwood. 

She stepped outside the cage and pushed the pram down one of the corridors that appeared for her. He followed along silently behind. She opened the first door and he could see two toddler beds in the sunny room, and watched as she picked up a ragged brown bear from each and handed them to the twins. "They don’t sleep without their bears," she explained. 

"Of course," he nodded. "Security object. They fix their telepathy there instead of each other and it allows them to relax and fall asleep." 

"That’s what the Master says," she answered. "I just thought all children had a stuffed animal to cuddle. I want to get him a few changes of clothes. I don’t know how long you intend to keep him but he’ll want to be clean if he has the choice. He’s fussy about that." 

"You know Jack’s going to want to keep him a jumpsuit. He’ll claim he can keep things hidden in the suit pockets. Contraband." 

"Fine," she smiled stiffly then. "Whatever Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood thinks is right." 

He knew he was rising to her baiting. Knew that was what she wanted. "Get him some suits," he answered. "I trust you not to slip him anything he shouldn’t have." 

"Thank you," she nodded. 

"Martha," he tried again. "You know it doesn’t have to be like this. We could, I don’t know Martha, we could work something out." 

"Work something out?" She asked. "Like what?" 

"You could come back to me," he whispered. "We could go back to how we were. It would be different, I’m not daft enough not to realize it would be different. Much tamer adventures because of the children but we could still have fun. Me and you. Us. The Doctor and Martha Jones, the woman who saved the world." 

"Us?" She looked at him. "You want to go back to us?" 

"Of course I do Martha. I’ve missed you," he reached out to hug her and tried not to cry as she stepped away. "I’ve missed you so much these last five years. Missed traveling with you. Missed your laugh. Missed the way you wondered about the things we saw. The way you always seemed to find a man to kiss besides me." 

"What about the Master?" 

"What about him?" The Doctor ran his fingers up through his hair. "What do you want me to do with him? We can leave him in a cell at Torchwood? We can convert a room into a cell here inside the Tardis for him? I think that might be best, honestly. The Tardis is the only safe place for him. If you don’t want him here though there are prison planets we can take him to. I know of one that still uses void ships. He’s dangerous enough they’ll put him in his own ship and send him into the Void where he can’t hurt anyone." 

"You want to imprison him?" Martha asked. "Here in the Tardis? Inside a cell?" 

"If you don’t want him here," the Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder. "If it’s too uncomfortable for you," he trailed off as she shook his hand away. 

"It’s not him I don’t want!" She screamed. "He’s my husband and I don’t want him in a cell. I love him you idiot! There is no us!" She waved a hand between them. "You made sure of that with all your pining for your beloved Rose! The us that I’m a part of currently has it’s other half of it in a cell because of you!" 

"Martha we did it to help you." The Doctor pleaded. "He’s hypnotized you and we just want to help you. We want to stop him from hurting you." 

"He didn’t hypnotize me!" She screamed again angrily. She reached out and grabbed his hands in hers, pressing the fingers to her temples. "See for yourself." 

He slipped inside of her mind willingly. He’d find the block, clear it and then everything would be solved. It was warm inside her mind, sunny, calm. Like every mind it was a library and he reached for the nearest ‘book’ at hand. Opening the cracked oxblood leather cover he fell inside the memory. 

Him, prattling about Rose as he plugged coordinates into the Tardis. Martha standing across from him, a sheet full of Gallifreyan writing - where had she gotten Gallifreyan, no he realized, when had she learned Gallifreyan - in her hands that she’d intended to show him? "You wouldn’t believe what Rose did then Martha," he crowed in delight. "She grabbed the wrong bucket and threw it on him and the monster didn’t melt he got bigger." He watched the memory as she crumpled the piece of paper in her fist and dropped it unobtrusively into the rubbish bin as she smiled at him and listened to him prattling away. 

He tossed the ‘book’ away and reached for another one. Opening it he fell into another memory. The Master this time, walking an infant and trying to wind him. "Come on now Leo," the other Time Lord crooned. "I know it hurts mate. Shhh." A sharp cry and the child spit up down the Master’s back. The Doctor cringed automatically. "Well that’s disgusting," the Master chuckled. "You feel better now that it’s up? Huh Leo? Feeling better now? We’ll just tell mummy it’s no more split peas for you then." 

He tossed that book away with tears pricking at his eyelids. Another book, green leather this time. The end of the universe, marching through the darkness, him in the lead pointedly ignoring her and Jack. He’d spent the day telling her stories about Rose and all the things they’d done together. Complained about the fact that she was taller than Rose and couldn’t squirm into the same small spaces the other woman had without bumping her head. Not enough meat on her bones, Rose had had softer curves to press against when they were in tight spaces, like a pillow, while Martha was stronger muscles and sinew. She’d been hurt, he could see that as she listened to another man tell her why Martha Jones; top of her university class, top of her medical class, animal lover, girl who worked one night a week at a battered women’s shelter, wasn’t as good as Rose Tyler, shopgirl from the Powell Estate. 

"Oh she’s a blonde," Martha finally replied angrily. Of course she is, he could tell she was thinking. Another group of men who cares more about her hair color and not her mind. " I should have known." He remembered what he’d said to her then and slammed the book shut before he could hear his own callous words. 

He stepped to another shelf. The Master bringing her breakfast in bed as she nursed infant twins. He tossed the book away in a fit of anger. All he had to do was find the block, it should have been some type of wall but the Master was clever and perhaps he’d disguised it somehow as a shelf or a door or something that the Doctor couldn’t easily find. Memories flooded into him from her mind. Callous words he’d said and never realized. Days she’d come home tired when they were trapped in 1963 and he’d been distracted by the time detector. She’d been mugged once and he’d never even realized. 

More memories flooded in as he tore through the shelves of ‘books’ in front of him desperately searching for the hidden block. It had to be there. He was surrounded by glimpses of the other Time Lord. Hugs, kisses, memories of - he shut those books quickly, laughing their heads off on various adventures. He thought he was losing his mind when he fell into a memory of the other Time Lord simply standing awkwardly staring at him/Martha. Hands shoved in the pockets of his trousers as he leaned against the console, ankles crossed, shoulders slumped, head down, tilted slightly to the left and looking up with a faint smile on his lips. He wasn’t speaking, wasn’t moving, was just standing there with that faint smile as his eyes burned into the Doctor’s skin. He tossed the book away angrily and began to attack the shelves. When the library of her mind was nothing but scattered books and destroyed shelving he stood panting in the middle of it. There was no block. There was nothing there but the memory of the Master burnt inside his mind, leaning against that console with that smile he always wore around women. He hadn’t been hypnotizing her. 

He released his fingers from Martha’s temples and simply stared at her. "You love him," he accused bitterly. "It’s not hypnosis. You’ve gone and fallen in love with him." 

He could see something akin to compassion in her eyes as she stared at him. She loved him, she loved the Master. She loved the Master, not the Doctor and he wasn’t sure what to say. "That doesn’t change everything he’s done," he said abruptly and wondered himself were it had come from, what he’d meant by it. He didn’t want to think about it, he just wanted to get back inside Torchwood and away from them - Owen could guard them during dinner. Owen had wanted to be there anyway to observe Martha’s condition, let the man sit with them. He needed to be anywhere but here. 


	4. Distortions in the Mirror of Time (4/9)

Title - Distortions in the Mirror of Time (4/9)  
Rating - PG-13 language   
Disclaimer - They all belong to RTD and the BBC. I just play with them when no ones looking. 

  


Chapter Four

The Doctor paced the flat he and Jack shared angrily. Back and forth across the main room, slamming his fists into the wall near the television every time he reached it. She hadn’t been hypnotized. She’d been with him of his own free will. He slammed his fists into the wall again and vaguely noticed that they were starting to throb from the pain. Spinning around on his left heel he marched back toward the small counter that separated the main room and the kitchen. Jack keep Jameson’s in the kitchen and the Doctor needed a drink. 

Pulling the bottle from it’s place in the cabinet under the counter he decided to forgo the glass. He didn’t want to bother stopping his thought process to pour another glass every time he needed a drink. Removing the cap he returned to pacing, taking long pulls from the bottle instead of pounding his fists against the wall. 

She went with him willingly, the Doctor felt his face curl in rage at the thought. She went with him willingly. She loves him.He remembered being inside her mind, seeing himself and the Master inside her memories. What she was remembering it wasn’t true. The Master didn’t behave as she saw him. The Master didn’t walk babies and coo at them. He didn’t let them pretend to fly the Tardis. He didn’t remember things like birthdays. He didn’t sing off key in the shower. Ok, the Doctor took another long drink and shrugged his shoulders, maybe he did sing off key in the shower. The Doctor had just never understood why he’d been so fascinated with the Scissor Sisters. 

More importantly, he thought as he turned again and started to pace, he hadn’t acted as her memories suggested. It was nonsense. The memories were corrupted somehow. He’d never prattled on about Rose all the time. He’d paid attention to her, respected her intellect, respected how hard she’d been working to become a doctor. A true Time Lord companion, capable of a life of the mind, of a silence that even he couldn’t bear. He hadn’t ignored her. He’d been fascinated by her, loved her. It’s true that he’d been vacant while they were in the past, falling into a depression at the loss of his telepathic link to the Tardis; but he hadn’t neglected her. He’d cared about what she did all day, cared about how difficult it was for her. He hadn’t understood, much, but he’d felt the stares just as keenly as she did when they went out in public together. The snide comments when he met her at work. He’d loved her damn it! 

He collapsed bonelessly on the sofa and stared at the silent flat around him. He’d loved her and everything she remembered had been wrong. Corrupted. She’d known how he felt. Hadn’t needed him to say it. Somehow it had all become corrupted in her mind. The Master had become good and he had become the enemy. 

She was suffering Stockholm Syndrome, as they called it here on Earth. Humans were susceptible to it, he knew that. They began to sympathize with their captors. Began to see them as humans, well in the Master’s case as humanoid. 

The Master was persuasive. He was good. He’d always used hypnosis to control populations but he’d never needed much. Something about him made other life forms want to follow him. Want to believe in him. He could have done such good with it, the Doctor thought idly. When they’d been at the Academy together the professors had always fawned over the Master, he was crazy but think at what he had the potential to do, the achievements he could reach. The Doctor, his roommate, had been the slacker, the lost child, too sympathetic toward the other worlds they were supposed to only observe. The Master had rebelled by perverting all of his potential to personal gain, the Doctor had rebelled by becoming everything they’d expected of the Master. 

Martha had Stockholm’s Syndrome. The Master hadn’t needed to hypnotize her, she was a compassionate woman. A doctor in her own right. The Master had made her feel for him and then slowly, slowly, persuaded her that everything she’d remembered had been wrong. 

Not too slowly, he thought to himself. According to what Martha had told Jack they had only been gone three years in her personal time line. The twins were almost two. If it hadn’t taken but a few months for the Master to condition her, the Doctor thought to himself, it shouldn’t take any longer to recondition her so that she realized that everything the other Time Lord had told her was a lie. That everything she remembered, everything they were to each other, all of it was lies. 

Searching the internet frantically the Doctor tried to find as much information as possible on Stockholm’s Syndrome. Cults, terrorist groups, fanatics, anything to find a way to help her. Every site he found recommended a gentle approach, to make the victim feel safe, loved. They couldn’t judge her actions. They’d need to support her. Help her rebuild a support network of loved ones. Leo and Tish, he thought to himself. She’d named their children after Leo and Tish. Not Gallifreyan names by any means. That had to mean something. 

He reached for the phone next to the computer and dialed. It rang twice before someone picked up. "Hello?" Tish asked brightly. 

"Tish?" 

"Doctor! What’s wrong? What’s happened?" 

"Tish," he swallowed. "I’m not sure how to tell you this." 

"Doctor what is it?" 

"We’ve found Martha," he said gently. 

"Is she?" He heard her voice break. "Is she hurt?" 

Was she hurt? He didn’t know how to answer. She’s pregnant with the Master’s child? She’s suffering delusions brought on by Stockholm’s syndrome? She’s married to a mad man? "It’s complicated Tish. She’s healthy. She’s," he faltered for a second. "She’s going to be fine. It’s just. You and your family should come to Cardiff Tish. Right now. You should come up so that you can see her first thing in the morning. She needs you." 

"Of course," he heard Tish swallow. "I’ll call everyone and we’ll be there as soon as we can." 

"Tish," he tried to sound reassuring. "She’ll be happy to see you." 

"Really?" 

"I promise," he agreed and was confident he was telling the truth. "I know she’s missed you and right now she’s going to need you more than ever." 

"We’ll see you as soon as we can Doctor," he heard the steel in her voice then. Tish Jones, the younger sister, the girl who’d served aboard the Valiant under threats from a madman and never wavered. Constantly regarded as an air head by her family before the Year that Never Was, she’d shown so much strength since. So much passion in her life, her calling. No longer content to do PR for money hungry maniacs and evil Time Lord Prime Ministers, Tish had devoted the last five years to doing PR and fund raising for the UNHRC. On their mantle was a picture of her in her powder blue shirt, surrounded by children somewhere in southeast Asia (the Doctor couldn’t remember where), hugging one of them tightly as a Doctor gave the crying child a vaccine, compassion radiating from her face. Tish Jones, carrying on her sister’s tradition of saving the world. He only hoped that now she could save her sister. 


	5. Distortions in the Mirror of Time (5/9)

Title - Distortions in the Mirror of Time (5/9)  
Rating - PG-13  
Disclaimer - Not mine I just like to play.  

  


Chapter Five

"Doctor!" Francine cried out as he opened the flat’s door sleepily. The other woman hugged him tightly. "Tish says you’ve found Martha!" 

He hugged her back absently and smiled at Martha’s father. "We have, it’s," he stopped and pulled back from her. "Why don’t you all come in and we’ll have some tea? I’ll explain the situation." 

"Doctor," Tish said anxiously. "You told us she was all right. That she wasn’t hurt." 

"She’s not hurt," the Doctor agreed. "But I wouldn’t say she’s all right either." 

"What’s happened to Martha?" Leo asked as he handed their son to his wife. 

"Let’s have some tea," the Doctor tried again as he set the kettle on to boil. 

"Doctor," Francine said sharply. "You tell me what’s happened to my daughter." 

The Doctor took a deep breathe and let it out slowly. "She’s been with the Master the whole time," he said bluntly. 

"He’s had her prisoner all this time?" Tish exclaimed. "Five years?" 

"Three for them," the Doctor answered. "It’s only been three for them. They landed at the rift yesterday to pick up supplies and I saw them in a store." 

"Where are they?" Mr. Jones asked worriedly. "Where is Martha?" 

"She’s at Torchwood," the Doctor smiled. "She’s fine. We just thought it might be better to let her keep sleeping in the Tardis until she was reacclimated to Earth. The Master is in a cell. He’s not near them. I promise." 

"Them?" Tish asked. "What do you mean them?" 

"That’s what I wanted to talk to you about." The Doctor handed Francine a cup of tea and couldn’t bear to look in her eyes. "Martha and the Master," he swallowed. "They’ve married." 

"Married?" Francine asked. "Who? Who have they married? Who did the Master marry Martha off to?" 

"Uh, no." The Doctor looked at her. "They’ve married each other." 

"No they didn’t." Francine announced. 

"Yes," the Doctor answered. "I know it’s as much a shock for you as it was to us. But both of them assure me that they’ve married." 

"No," Francine retorted. "They did not." 

"Francine," Mr. Jones placed a calming hand on her shoulder. 

"Oh no don’t start that Francine bit with me sir. I did not help my daughter into a white gown and put on her veil. You did not walk her up the aisle and scare the young man waiting for her. There were no musicians and no minister and no reception afterwards. I don’t see a marriage license. All of that tells me my daughter is not married." 

"Mum," Tish tried to soothe her. "Calm down." 

"That’s not the worst part," the Doctor broke in. 

"You said them," Leo prompted. "Them. Not Martha. Not her. Them." 

"They have children," the Doctor announced. "Twins. Tish and Leo. They’re almost two." 

"Oh God!" Francine shrieked and the Doctor was worried she might be having a heart attack. "Please tell me I heard you wrong." 

The Doctor decided he might as well press forward while he still could. "She’s pregnant again. Very pregnant. Due any day now." 

"Martha’s pregnant?" Tish asked in horror. "By the Master?" 

"Yes?" The Doctor said tentatively. 

"You mean that animal," Mr. Jones was clenching his fists tightly now. 

"Not according to Martha," he broke in. "She’s assured me that’s not the case." 

"They have children?" Tish swallowed her tea in one gulp. "Martha and the Master have children?" 

"She has Stockholm Syndrome," the Doctor announced. "I’ve been researching it and it’s very common. Especially for people like Martha. She was training to be a Doctor. She’s compassionate by nature. Inclined to see the best in people, to want to help them. He kept her isolated and convinced her that he needed her help. She thinks he’s changed." 

"What do we do?" Tish asked resolutely. Tish, the go to girl now, the problem solver, the clear thinker of this family. "What do we need to do to help Martha?" 

The door opened and all of them turned toward it. Jack stood in the doorway and surveyed them. "Two steps ahead of me Doctor." 

"Jack," Francine tried to smile. "You’ve been at Torchwood? You’ve seen," she trailed off. 

Jack looked over at the Doctor. "I’ve told them," he said sadly. "They know about Tish and Leo." 

"They’re all fine," Jack smiled. "When I left all of them were asleep in the large bedroom of the Tardis. We’ve got a monitor on them at all times. Two twins, two teddy bears, one Martha curled up in the middle. According to Owen all of their vital signs appear to be steady. They’re fine. Just tired." 

"And," Francine bit her lip. 

"He’s in a cell across the base from them. He can’t get near any of them. He’s under surveillance as well." 

"Has he told you anything?" She asked. "Did he hurt her? The children?" 

Jack closed his eyes briefly and swallowed. The Doctor could tell what he was thinking. Which was better? The truth or a lie? Most of the time he would say the truth. Francine would want to know that the children seemed happy and well adjusted. That Martha seemed fine. How much would it hurt her to know that Martha insisted she loved the Master? That the children hadn’t been afraid of the Master, playing with him, seeking his approval, clinging to him when it was time for him to put them to bed and return to his cell for the night? How much would that destroy Francine? 

"They’re all fine," Jack answered. "After breakfast we’ll all go back to Torchwood so you can see for yourself. I want to wait until then though because Martha’s agreed to let Owen give her a more complete exam and he wants to do it before she eats." 

"Of course," Tish agreed and they all sat nervously staring at each other, no one eating, waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting for a chance to see Martha again. 


	6. Distortions in the Mirror of Time (6/9)

Title - Distortions in the Mirror of Time (6/9)  
Rating - PG-13  
Disclaimer - Still not mine, never will be. I own nothing.   
  


  


Chapter Six

 

The Doctor leaned against the doorway leading to the cells and closed his eyes. They’d been inside the Hub for almost four hours and things had finally calmed enough for him to leave the Jones family together and take a much needed break. It had been the most emotional thing he’d ever experienced. It had broke Jack to watch and he didn’t have any telepathic ability. 

There had been distrust all around at first as they were brought into Jack’s office with Martha. Wariness on Martha’s part and nerves on the part of her family. They had treated her like a wounded animal - soft voices, soothing words, not touching each other, waiting for her to bolt, to disappear somehow again and leave them alone for another five years. 

Baby Tish, the Doctor had taken to referring to them that way in the past few hours, Baby Tish and Baby Leo to distinguish them from their namesakes. Baby Tish had toddled forward and offered a mashed up piece of pancake to Francine, breaking the tension in the innocent way that children can. 

Next had come the sobbing. The hugging. The squeezing each other and the words like "I miss you," and "I love you," and "wanted to call and explain but didn’t know how," and "doesn’t matter just happy to have you home," being bandied about between sobs as the twins simply looked at the adults in confusion. The Doctor wondered if they had ever seen so many people crowded together like they were now. At some point in the hugging Baby Leo had squawked for attention and the passing of babies had began. 

The tears had come harder from Francine then as she held each of them tightly to her. "My grandchildren," she sobbed and the Doctor was amazed at the smile on her face then. Mr. Jones had been almost as emotional, not crying but holding each in amazement and the room seemed to glow around him. 

The Doctor tried to contain the wetness on his own cheeks at the love around him, the peace they all felt at reuniting. She still hadn’t wanted anything to do with him. Hadn’t allowed him anywhere near the children and that hurt him more than he could ever imagine it would. The newest generation of Time Lord and she was keeping him away from them. Keeping him from marvelling at the miracle of them. 

"I’m so glad to have you home," Francine had babbled as she hugged Martha again. "Home and away from that monster." 

He’d seen her tense then and waited for the meeting to fall apart. "He’s not a monster," Martha said sharply. "He’s my husband and I love him." 

Mr. Jones had stepped in then. "That’s fine Martha. You’re mother didn’t mean anything by it. We’re just so happy to see you and the children. We’re so happy to have you home. We’ll worry about everything else later. All that matters is that you’re here now." 

He’d seen Martha visible relax then and smiled slightly. Looking over he could see the anguish in Francine’s eyes and that Tish was biting her own lip nervously. There would be no easy adjustments for any of them. He and Martha would need to stay close to Earth, or at least visit much more often, once she was better and they returned to the Tardis together. Perhaps they could stay on Earth until the children were slightly older. He hated to be stationary but a few years would pass in the blink of an eye - he’d manage them to keep her near her family as long as she needed. 

Jack had suggested he leave them alone shortly after. Give them some space, he’d suggested and the Doctor had agreed. It would give him a chance to talk with the Master. The other Time Lord wouldn’t talk with anyone else besides him or Martha. Claimed that he didn’t feel it necessary to converse with silly apes. He promised himself that he wasn’t going to gloat about bringing the Jones family to see Martha. He hadn’t done it to exact revenge on the Master - he’d done it to help Martha. He wouldn’t be gloating. 

The Doctor stepped inside the cells and started to walk slowly toward where the Master was being kept. "You brought the Jones’s up to see her didn’t you?" The voice rang out clearly from the farthest cell. 

"How did you know?" The Doctor asked. 

"I would have," the Master shrugged before sitting upright on his bed and facing the Doctor. "Besides telepathic link. I could sense it through Tish and Leo. Seems like things are going well. Theta doesn’t seem to be upset and usually he is when Martha’s nervous." 

"Theta?" The Doctor asked. 

"Well we have to call it something and I refuse to have a child called Jack. She refuses to have one known as the Doctor so I thought I’d suggest Theta. A good Gallifreyan moniker for this one." 

"You’re naming it Theta?" The Doctor repeated. 

"Unless you disapprove of course," the Master shrugged. "Then I guess we’ll name it something else." 

"I thought you’d want to name it Koschei," the Doctor suggested. 

"Not that arrogant. How are things going up there really?" 

"Lots of hugging. Crying. The kids are a big hit. You know how humans are." 

The Master simply raised his eyebrows and lifted one side of his lips in a smile. "They do tend to emote quite a bit. You should have been right at home." 

"Thought I’d come see how you were doing. So?"

"So?" 

"How are you doing?" 

"Bored. When are you and the Freak going to decide what to do with me and get me out of here?" 

"Who says you’re leaving that cell?" 

"You can’t intend to leave me here forever." The Master replied. "Freak won’t be able to control his urge to kill me. You won’t allow that to happen. This is a temporary thing. What are you waiting for? Dole out the sentence and lets get it over with." 

"We’re waiting for Martha to get better." 

"Get better?" 

"Stockholm’s Syndrome," the Doctor said confidently. "That’s what’s happened. Once we help Martha to realize that you no longer have any power over her we’ll decide what to do with you. My suggestion is to keep you locked inside the Tardis where you can’t hurt anyone. If she wants to continue traveling with me though that won’t work. So the alternative is to leave you locked in here until Martha decides she doesn’t want her and the children to travel with me anymore and then once she’s settled I’ll move you into the Tardis. Or another alternative is to send you to a prison planet. I guess it will depend on what Martha tells us she wants done." 

"You’re leaving my sentence up to Martha?" The Master asked. "Well when can I get out of here then?" 

"You’re awful confident in yourself aren’t you?" 

"You don’t get it Doctor," the Master smiled. "I didn’t brutalize her. Didn’t hurt her. I didn’t keep her locked up and rave at her all day long. I didn’t psychologically torture her. I didn’t do any of those things." 

"What did you do then?" The Doctor said angrily. 

"Everything you should have." The Master replied and lay backwards to stare at the ceiling. He adjusted every so often and the Doctor allowed his mind to reach out. To reach upwards. Three floors above them Martha and her family were in Jack’s office. The Master kept aligning himself with where Martha was. Moving so that he was directly beneath her. 

"What do you mean? I would have never done the things you have to Martha." 

"I know," the Master said simply. "And look how happy she is. You would have never given her that. What would she be now if I’d left her with you? Alone? Bitter? Broken hearted? Unhappy? What would she be Doctor?" 

"Stop it," the Doctor snapped. 

"Don’t you want to know what I did? Don’t you need to know so you can break my hold on her?" The Master sneered arrogantly. 

"What did you do?" The Doctor asked. 

"Ask me nicely and I’ll tell you." 

"Master," the Doctor started again. "What did you do to Martha?" 

"I treated her like she deserved. I listened to her. I paid attention to her. I made her feel important and wanted and special. I did stupid things. I taught her to fly the Tardis just to prove that I trusted her. When she took us to China and she was staying at the court of the Khan," the Master smiled absently. "Did she tell you he asked her to join his court? He’d invited her to stay inside the Forbidden City in a house closer to the palace than the one the rest of Marco Polo’s retainers and I were in. I snuck out of our quarters and went to hers." 

"I don’t need to know all the disgusting details of your love life." The Doctor snapped. 

"You idiot." The Master snapped and glared at him. "No wonder she left you for me. I didn’t sleep with her you moron. She was under guard. Imperial soldiers at the only entrance to the house. I crept around back and sat outside the window in her room all night. Whispered with her all night long through a little crack in the shutters. Brought her flowers constantly. When we’d travel I’d make deliberate out of the way stops to planets with interesting bazaars to buy her trinkets ‘just because’. You want to know the most important thing I did though?" 

"What?" The Doctor tried to contain his anger as he glared at the other Time Lord. 

The Master stood deliberately and walked to the glass separating them. "Every single day Doctor. Listen to me very carefully. Every single day I kissed her. Every single day I wrapped my arms around her. Every single day I told her I couldn’t imagine seeing time and space with anyone else and after a time every single day I told her I loved her." 

"So you lied to her?" The Doctor scoffed. "Excuse me if I don’t reduce myself to that. I think Martha deserves better than that Master." 

"No," the Master smiled. "That’s the thing. The words didn’t matter Doctor. The kisses didn’t matter. The hugging didn’t matter. What matters Doctor," he chuckled. "What really mattered was that I meant it Doctor and most important - _she knew I meant it_." 

He slammed an angry fist against the glass and felt it reverberate slightly. The Master winced and the Doctor couldn’t contain his smile. The Time Lord was scared. For all his drivel about how Martha loved him he was terrified now about what would happen to him next. A second later the Master winced again. 

"Master?" The Doctor asked as the other Time Lord started to pant slightly. "What’s wrong?" 

"Martha," he gasped before doubling slightly. 

"Martha?" 

"Something’s wrong with Martha." The Master clarified. "Get upstairs." 

"Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve been keeping a careful eye on her. She was fine when I left her." 

"Theta," the Master looked at him with terror in his eyes. "Something is really wrong with Martha. Go find out what’s happened." 

"Mas," he looked at the other Time Lord. "Koschei, tell me this isn’t an act on your part. Promise me." 

"Theta please," the Doctor could see the genuine fear in his eyes now. The terror. "Please." 

He nodded dumbly and hurried away from the cell. Once he’d reached the outer doorway he turned around to look back in the cell and saw the Master curled up in a ball, pressed against the glass and rocking gently. 

 


	7. Distortions in the Mirror of Time (7/9)

Title - Distortions in the Mirror of Time (7/9)  
Rating - PG-13 (language)   
Disclaimer  - Not ever going to be mine and if they were going to sell it this chapter would guarentee they wouldn't sell it to me.   
  


  


Chapter Seven

"Jack!" He cried out as he raced up the stairs and toward the main room of the Hub. "Jack!"   


"Doctor!" Jack cried. "Thank God you’re here. She just collapsed Doctor. We have no idea what happened. One minute she’s fine and the next she’s on the floor." 

"I know," the Doctor answered he allowed Jack to drag him toward the medical facilities inside the Hub. 

"How?" 

"The Master could sense it. Through the telepathic link he’s got. Sensed something was wrong, sent me up here to find out." 

"Does he know what to do then?" Owen asked frantically from his spot next to the gurney running an IV. "Because really, right now I could do with some suggestions." 

"You’re a doctor," the Doctor replied. "What do you think is wrong with her?" 

"Severe distress," Owen answered. "Heart rate, pulse, blood pressure all up. Fetal heart rate almost as high. Arrhythmic. Hemorrhaging. The monitor tells me she’s having contractions. By all accounts she’s in labor and right now that’s a very bad thing." 

"Owen," Jack responded. "You’re a doctor. You’ve delivered babies before." 

"Not alien babies!" Owen screamed. "Get the damn Master up here! He might have some idea what to do!" 

"Right," the Doctor agreed as he raced out of the room, past the huddled Jones family in the main part of the Hub with Ianto, and back toward the cells. 

"Master!" He screamed. "Master I’m opening the cell door and don’t you dare try anything." 

"What’s wrong?" The Master said as he slid out of the cell before it’s door had fully opened. "What’s happened?" 

"She’s in labor. What do we do?" 

"What’s Martha say to do?" 

"Nothing, she’s unconscious." 

"Fuck," the Master growled as he brushed past the Doctor and toward the door. "Tardis, New Earth now." 

"What?" 

"You think I delivered the twins myself you imbecile?" The Master snapped as he continued down the corridor with the Doctor running along beside. "I took her to a hospital and allowed somebody qualified to do it." 

"You were in the room," the Doctor reasoned. "You must have seen what they did." 

"No I wasn’t," the Master stopped and turned to glare at him. "I paced the waiting room like every other expectant father in the galaxy. They didn’t let me in the delivery room. You need to get Martha to New Earth now!" 

As they stormed through the main room of the Hub he could see the Jones family wince at the sight of the Master and the children were struggling to reach him. The Master didn’t stop though until they were outside the room where Owen was treating Martha. 

"So what do we do?" Jack asked as Owen looked up in the open doorway. 

"New Earth," the Master answered. "That’s where she had the twins. New New York University Hospital. They’ll know what to do." 

"We can’t move her," Owen interjected. 

"The Master did it last time she was in labor," the Doctor answered. 

"You can’t move her," Owen repeated forcefully. 

"The Master," the Doctor started. 

"We were already in the Time Vortex and she was still conscious," the Master cut in. "Why can’t we move her Earthling?" 

"She won’t survive the stress of the move," Owen said. "I can’t promise either of them will survive to get them into the Tardis. You can’t try to make her travel through time and space in this condition. Her body won’t be able to handle the strain." 

"So what do we do?" Jack asked evenly.

"Caesarean," Owen answered. "It’s all I can think of. She can’t stay like this. They won’t survive it. What do I need to know about Time Lord biology before hand?" 

"I don’t know," the Doctor said. "You can’t cut her open though. Not if we don’t know what will happen." 

"Cut her open," the Master said quietly. 

"You are not to cut her open," the Doctor argued. 

Owen looked between them once and then again. He looked at the Master a third time. "You’re her next of kin. Husband she told us. What do you want me to do?"

"You don’t answer to him," Jack argued. "You answer to me." 

"Not in this," Owen replied. "I’m a doctor and my patient is unable to make decisions on her own. It falls to the next of kin which is him or her parents. You really want to take the time to argue this out with them right now?" 

"Cut her open," Tish announced from the doorway. "If Owen is right then so is the Master. It’s the only way. Do it." 

"Tish," the Doctor looked at the woman in the doorway. 

"Cut her open Dr. Harper." Tish repeated. "If that’s the only way to save Martha’s life you cut her open." She looked over at Jack and then the Master. "You’ve gotten it now from the family and from her husband. Cut her open." 

"Right," Owen swallowed. "I’ll need everyone to clear the room. Jack send in Gwen. She’s got some medical training, she’ll be able to help." 

"I’ll stay," Jack answered. 

"Jack," the Doctor looked at him. 

"I’ve done this before," Jack shrugged. "Seen it done actually. More primitive but I know the mechanics." 

"Right," Owen nodded. "Everyone else out, Jack I want you to go scrub down and then get back in here." 

"Yes sir Dr. Harper," Jack answered as he ushered the others outside and made his way to the nearest sink. 

Now they were waiting. All of them. The Hub crackled with the tension of the waiting. Gwen and Tosh stayed to the background, silent. Ianto continually brought in tea, biscuits for the children, crayons and paper that he’d managed to find somewhere for them to play with. Francine and her husband remained huddled together in one corner, gripping hands, while Leo and his wife sat nearby with the same strain registering on their faces. Tish sat in the center of the room, between where her parents were and where the Master and the children were in the opposite corner. Occasionally she would glance at one of the two groups before she would sigh and resume gnawing on her thumbnail. The Master sat with the twins at his feet, elbows on his knees, head down twisting his fingers around each other, unlocking them occasionally to touch one of the twins comfortingly. The Doctor stood beside him, resting his head against the wall and letting bone melting weariness flood through him. 

Hours passed and the Doctor found himself sitting in a chair next to the Master. The Jones’s had moved closer and they were all sitting on the same side of the room. Francine was holding a sleeping baby Leo in her arms while the Master had a contentedly snoring baby Tish sprawled across his lap. 

"What were their first words?" She asked the Master quietly. 

"Hmm?" He asked. 

"Their first words. What were my grandchildren’s first words?" 

"Tish’s was jam." The Master smiled. "Martha was making them toast and she’d given Tish a piece of it dry. Tish pointed to the strawberry jam and said ‘jam.’ Martha made her repeat it before she gave her some on her toast." 

"What about Leo?" 

"Few hours later. First words were ‘stop it Tish.’" 

"Stop it Tish?" 

"She teases him a lot," the Master smiled tiredly. "They have a telepathic link between them. Stronger even then the ones they have with Martha and I. Twins. They’re linked. She likes to tickle her brother through the link. So he heard ‘stop it Tish’ quite a bit. Still does. Martha," he swallowed. "Martha once joked that she seemed to start and end every sentence with the words ‘stop it Tish’." 

"Sounds like Martha," Mr. Jones smiled. "She was always tormenting Tish and Leo when they were younger. I used to laugh that one of us wouldn’t make it until she was grown." 

The Master winced slightly at that comment and so did Francine. The Doctor originally thought that was what had awakened baby Tish and baby Leo, the simultaneous movements. Then the children started to screech in anguish and Leo reached for his father. The Master propped Tish up on one leg and took Leo from Francine. "Hush," he soothed gently and then the Doctor watched as his face clouded slightly and began to close. 

"Master," he put a hand on the other Time Lord’s shoulder. "Master?" 

He saw Francine look up from the corner of his eyes and turned to look where she was. Owen Harper was standing in the doorway, blood still smeared on his blue gray surgical scrubs. "I’m sorry," he said and the Doctor knew what the Master had moments earlier through the telepathic link. The sounds of Francine wailing only confirmed it. 


	8. Chapter 8

"Donna," he asked quietly when she returned from her room in the Tardis.

"What Doctor?" She said equally as quiet. He noticed that she didn’t come to sit on the captains seat with him, she stayed at the opposite end of the console.

Still shaken by Pompeii, he thought to himself. The way he’d been. "I can’t save them," he’d admonished her angrily.

"Save someone," she’d pleaded. "Just one person. Save someone."

That’s what he’d done. He’d saved one family. He’d left a city to burn, it’s people to, he shuddered at the thought. He’d destroyed one family and later saved another. It hadn’t made him feel better though.

"Donna, I’d like to take a short trip. Would you come with me?"

"Where are we going Doctor?"

"Do you remember I told you that I took a companion after the last time I saw you?"

"Yes," she nodded and bit her lip. "You said it didn’t go well. Said you destroyed her life. Half of it anyway."

"I did," the Doctor nodded. "I," he looked down. "She died. Not with me. Well I was there but it wasn’t because of me. It doesn’t matter, she’s dead now. Gone."

"Where do you want to go then Doctor?"

"Her family, see it’s complicated. She left me and she fell in love with someone else. Another alien. They had a family and then she died."

"She died?" Donna repeated.

The Doctor nodded. "Her family they went to live on Desidera. I’d like to go and check on them."

"Of course Doctor," she came over and sat next to him. "I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you."

"No," he answered. "Her husband, um the Master he’s called, he blames me. He blames me that she’s dead. He won’t want to see me."

"Doctor I don’t think you’re in any shape to start a fight. Sometimes it’s just best to let things go."

"I don’t want to start a fight," the Doctor said. "I won’t try to talk with them. I just want, I just want to see them and make sure they’re all fine."

"Of course," Donna smiled encouragingly. He was glad a few moments later to have her with him. She slipped her hand into his and squeezed it gently, reassuringly. Together it would be all right.

He stepped into Amarate, the capital city of the planet Desidera and immediately stopped in shock. In front of him was a large portrait of the Master. ‘Emperor Saxon welcomes you,’ was written in large red letters beneath it.

"That’s Harry Saxon!" Donna announced. "He was the bleedin’ Prime Minister."

"Time Lord," the Doctor shrugged.

"An alien?" Donna asked. "Is he who?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered. "And apparently now he’s become Emperor. At least we’ll know where to find him."

He tugged her through the winding streets of Amarate, not paying attention to anything but how to get to the imperial residence. What did it matter what the city looked like? They wouldn’t be staying long, just a pit stop to assure himself that the Master and the children were fine and then they’d leave.

"Who’s she?" Donna asked breathlessly.

"Who’s who?" The Doctor turned to look where she was pointing.

"There are statues of her everywhere. Pictures. Do you know who she is Doctor? A goddess of theirs’?"

They were in a large square and he looked at the statue in the middle of the fountain sadly. A marble woman kneeling, her arms around two small toddlers. The cheek bones were high, higher than any other human’s he’d ever seen. The skin nearly as creamily flawless as the original had been. The wide eyes of the statue seemed to stare at him just like the real ones always had.

"It’s Martha and her children," he said softly.

"Was that your companion?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes, she was."

They were in front of the imperial palace then. He’d watched the place for a few moments and then led her around the side to an unguarded gate there. He didn’t step inside onto the lawn though, just stood staring through the ornamental bars at the scene he saw there.

Tish and Leo, older now, about 8 he thought, playing on the lawn. Leo chasing Tish with what looked like a small, squirming lizard as she ran screaming toward the Master. The Master, stubble covering his chin, tie loosened, sleeves rolled up past his elbows, sitting in a chair and quietly watching them.

"Daddy!" Tish shrieked as she ran toward the Master. "Daddy make him stop! He’s got a nasty lizard and he’s going to get me with it!"

"Leo," the Master called out as he let his daughter curl up in his lap. "Be nice to your sister!"

"She started it." Leo pouted.

"I don’t care who started it mate," the Master replied as the little boy drew close. "Put Lisander back in his box and come apologize to your sister."

"Yes Daddy," the little boy sulked as he put the lizard in a box on the table. He turned and curled up in his father’s lap on the opposite side of his sister. Instead of apologizing he stuck out his tongue petulently.

The Doctor looked away then as he heard a door to the imperial residence open and a young woman came out onto the lawn. He felt his fingers clench around the bars. "Emperor Saxon?" A soft voice lilted.

"Yes Tanthier," he heard the Master reply without turning around.

"You’re Minister of Finance is requesting to see you," she answered and bowed her head. "If it’s to your liking I could also begin the children’s lessons now."

"Of course Tanthier," he nodded before pushing the children gently off his lap. "Please tell Minister Ashai that I’ll be along momentarily. Children go with Nanny Tanthier for your lessons. I’ll see you tonight at dinner."

"Yes Daddy," Tish agreed as she reached up to hug her father once more.

"Right Daddy," Leo agreed and slipped the box holding the lizard into his pocket.

"Leo?" The Master beckoned his son with his hand. "Give me Lisander. I’ll keep him until you’ve finished you lessons."

"But Daddy!" Leo protested.

"Minister Ashai is a fan of lizards like Lisander," the Master explained. "I’m sure she’ll think meeting him is a treat. Now leave Lisander with me and go to your lessons."

"Yes Daddy," Leo replied sulkily as he passed over the box and then allowed his father a kiss on the cheek.

"Good boy," the Master answered and then watched as the nanny he’d called Tanthier led them away.

The Doctor looked over at Donna holding tightly to his hand and could see her smiling at him reassuringly. He couldn’t make himself leave yet. Couldn’t bear to go. He’d leave once the Master was inside. She simply nodded as if she understood the silence and let him continue to stare.

Instead of following the children inside, the Doctor watched as the Master refastened his sleeves, slid on his jacket, dropping the lizard inside the outer pocket with a familiar pat. He’d ran his fingers through the hair he still kept short and adjusted his tie. The Doctor expected him to turn and go inside then. Instead he pulled something small from the inner jacket pocket and stared at it with a sad smile. The Doctor watched as he ran a finger absently over the glass.

"I miss you," he heard the other Time Lord say simply.

He couldn’t control the wetness on his cheeks and once the Master had gone inside he felt his knees weaken. He sat and sobbed silently against the garden gate then as Donna rubbed his back like a child.


	9. Distortions in the Mirror of Time (9/9)

"Tish!" The Master screamed angrily as he pressed a washcloth against his nicked face. "Why is my razor dull?"

"Daddy!" A shriek came down the hallway. "Don’t be so uncool! I needed it!"

"For what?" He paced the bathroom angrily.

"My legs!"

"Your legs?" He threw his free hand up in the air and pressed the other against the nick harder. "Stupid Earthling affectation." He grumbled.

Taking a deep breath he looked at the spot. It had stopped bleeding. Jerking his trousers on he then reached for his shirt and pulled it on as well. Black suits. He’d stuck with them. Wasn’t sure why. They were easy to wear, he thought. Classic. He looked good in them. Looking in the mirror as he tucked the shirt in he sighed. Martha liked them. 15 years later and he still couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d have wanted. What she liked. That’s why he kept the suits. Martha had thought he looked sexy in them.

"Why do you need my razor for your legs?" The Master shouted through the door and tried to keep his tone pleasant. Softly, he reminded himself. Better to deal with her softly. She had his temper after all.

"I have a date," the voice sounded overly casual even through at least one closed door.

"What?" The Master shrieked and pulled the door open. She wasn’t in the corridor. Music, noise he thought derisively, coming from her suite of rooms. Stomping to her door he pounded on it. "What did you say?" He screamed. "Letitia Jane Saxon you open this door!"

The door opened and the Master stared eye to eye with his oldest child. "I have a date." She repeated. He looked down at the outfit she was wearing. Miniskirt and a top that was low enough cut he thought he might be able to see her navel if he looked diligently enough.

"With who?"

"Tesera Ashai," Tish smiled. "He’s home from the Academy."

"Tesera Ashai?" The Master repeated. "Minister Ashai’s son? The one who’s three years older than you? Pilot at the Military Academy? That Tesera Ashai?"

"Yep." Tish smiled. "That’s him. We’re going out tonight Daddy."

"Where?" The Master tried not to grit his teeth. He hated that slimy little know it all. Top marks at the Academy, unfailingly polite, always so very, very proper. The absolute standard of Desediran courtesy. The Master had his number and there was no way that little prick was taking out his daughter. He knew what a boy that polite was thinking!

"Festival at Mensara," Tish smiled. "Cultural event. You always say we should take part in cultural festivitites with the local population. Responsibility remember?"

"That’s not a cultural event," the Master argued. "It’s a music festival. For that noise you insist on listening to. You’re not going."

"Daddy!" Tish shouted. "That’s not fair! Why?"

"It’s a drunken and drug fueled bacchanalia of obscene dancing and noise. And I don’t trust the Ashai boy."

"Daddy you’ve known him since we were kids!"

"You’re still a kid!" The Master argued.

"I’m 17!"

"You’re not going!"

"Why?"

"Because I’m your father! And if that’s not enough I’m the Emperor of this country! Supreme law! And I don’t like the Ashai boy!"

"Why don’t you like him?" Tish stomped her foot.

"He’s a boy!"

"Leo’s a boy!"

"Leo isn’t taking you out wearing nothing but bits of string and very little material!" The Master shouted back, uncaring as to reason at this point. Why was it the children were immune to hypnosis?

"You don’t complain when Leo goes on dates!"

"He’s a boy!"

"That’s unfair!"

"I don’t have to be fair!" The Master retorted as the door was slammed in his face. "I’m the Master!"

"Good for you!" She said thickly and he felt his chest tighten. She was crying. Soon she’d be sobbing. He hated it when she cried. He just came undone when she cried. What would Martha do?

"Tish," he leaned his head against the door. "Tish. Come on talk to me."

"What about Daddy?" He heard the sniffle then. "You’re not being fair."

"You can go," he sighed.

"What?"

"You can go to the festival with the Ashai boy. Just do me a favor huh?"

"What?"

"Change into some decent clothes."

"Like what?"

"Something that covers you from chin to ankles?" The Master suggested hopefully. "And a scarf over your head?"

"Da-deeee!"

"Oh fine," he sighed. "Jeans but that’s my final compromise."

"Deal." He heard her jump up off the bed then and the door flung open. Tish wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a squeeze. "Oh Daddy!" She announced. "You’re wonderful!"

"Right," the Master agreed morosely. "I’m wonderful. Wonderful me."

He grimaced when he heard the bell. That would be the Ashai boy. He looked at Tish. "You go change. I’ll go make the Ashai boy comfortable."

"Be nice," Tish warned. "Please Daddy?"

"Nice?" The Master asked. "I’ll be the picture of fatherly hospitality."

"Thank you!" She hugged him again. Tighter this time. "I love you Daddy!"

"I love you too," the Master smiled tensely. "Now change and I’ll go say hello to the boy."

Once Tish was in her room with the door closed the Master smiled to himself evilly and made his way down the corridor and toward the main sitting room. He’d be nice to the Ashai boy. He’d be very nice indeed. Reaching into his trouser pocket he patted the laser screwdriver absently.

Entering the sitting room he could see the young man standing nervously near the fireplace, looking at the pictures of Tish and Leo he kept on the mantle. The Master cleared his throat. The young man turned around and abruptly saluted him.

"Emperor Saxon Sir!"

The Master nodded. "Tesera. I understand you’re taking my daughter Tish on a date tonight."

"Um yes Sir. That is if it’s acceptable to you sir. I had called your office to make sure it was acceptable before I invited her to the music festival but you’re secretary said you were unavailable. My apologies Sir."

The Master waved his hand nonchalantly. "Don’t worry about it," the Master smiled. "I understand. So what exactly do you have planned for this date with my little girl tonight? Anything interesting?"

"Just the music festival Sir," he could tell Tesera was nervous.

"Are you driving?"

"Yes Sir."

"Won’t be drinking then I assume?"

"Of course not Sir."

"Good. So nothing else planned then? Just listening to music together?"

"Yes Sir?" The boy was looking at him strangely.

"So no hand holding? No kissing? Definitely nothing else then?"

"If that’s what you order Emperor Saxon sir."

"Oh that’s what I order all right." The Master retrieved his screwdriver. "Do you understand me Cadet Ashai? If I find out you so much as touched my baby daughter," he waved the screwdriver underneath the taller man’s nose.

"Sir?"

"Well I haven’t quite decided what I’ll do to you yet but I must tell you Cadet Ashai by the end of it you’ll be praying for a posting to the Trenneer bogs."

"Sir?"

"Do you understand what I’m telling you Cadet Ashai? If you touch my only baby daughter, light of my life and the spitting image of her mother, I will personally ensure that your career is served in the most disgusting, vile, repulsive postings I can find and that’s after I take this laser screwdriver to parts of your body you’d probably like to keep functioning. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Sir!" Cadet Ashai saluted.

"Good, now I hear my daughter coming down the hallway. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that this little conversation stays man to man do I?"

"No sir!"

"Good," the Master smiled and patted him familiarly on the back as Tish entered the room. Turning he gave her a brief hug before handing her some bills. "Take 100 from me. You kids have a good time."

"Thank you Daddy!" Tish hugged him back tightly before taking Tesera’s hand and dragging him toward the door.

"You two kids have fun!" He called out from the doorway and waved cheerfully. Tish smiled back and the Ashai boy just nodded with fear in his eyes. He knew the Master was serious in his threats.

Once he’d heard them pull out of the main drive he slammed the sitting room door forcefully and made his way back into the room. He had a dinner he was supposed to attend tonight. He had time for a drink though. No one would complain. He was the Emperor after all.

Pouring himself a large measure of scotch he looked at the glass he swallowed it in one go. Pouring another of the same size he stared at it before slumping into the wingback chair next to the table.

"Dad?" He heard Leo call out.

"In here," he answered.

"Oh Dad, I’m glad I found you."

"Going out with someone wildly inappropriate and want my blessing?" The Master asked sullenly.

"Huh? No. Meeting up with the guys and playing cards. I wanted to talk to you about my University course next year."

"Right," the Master nodded. "It’s all arranged. Plum posting in the Emperor’s guards. With your brains the Academy will be a trivial affair for you to get through. You’ll do some of your command on the Ixthara border and then domestic posting to the Ministry of Defense."

"Um Dad?" Leo slumped his shoulders.

"Yeah?" The Master could tell this wasn’t going to be good.

"I don’t want to be a soldier."

"What? Leo you need to do military service. It will help secure your place in the succession."

"Um."

"What?" The Master groaned.

"I don’t actually want to be Emperor," Leo shrugged. "I was thinking you could let Tish take over the government."

"What?"

"The whole conquering other worlds thing isn’t my trip Dad." Leo shrugged again.

"Isn’t your trip?" The Master repeated before draining his drink. "So what is your trip?"

"I was actually thinking about maybe studying education," Leo muttered. "You know become a teacher?"

"A teacher? What kind of teacher?"

"Well I like little kids." Leo’s head dropped further.

"Little kids? Next you’re going to tell me you want to be a veterinarian because you like fluffy animals."

"No," Leo laughed self consciously. "I couldn’t become a veterinarian."

"Indulge me and explain why." The Master poured a third drink. He thought he might need it for Leo’s answer.

"I couldn’t kill an animal Dad!" Leo protested. "The whole putting something to sleep," he shuddered. "I just couldn’t look them in the eyes and then euthanize them."

The Master downed his drink and poured another. This was just not his day. Really, really not his day. "You couldn’t put an animal down? So you want to teach little children how to read and do sums instead?"

"I could always do social work?" Leo suggested. "You know I just really want to help make things better for people."

"Right," the Master nodded. "So thank you for telling me. I appreciate it. We’ll talk about this after we’ve both had time to think."

"Right," Leo shrugged. "I’ll just go out with my mates then."

"Sure," the Master said in a tight voice. "That sounds great. You and your mates. Playing cards. Have fun."

When he heard the door slam again he put his hand to the bridge of his nose and pinched. "Tanthier!" He called out as he gave up on the glass and just drank directly from the bottle.

"Yes Emperor?" She called from the next room. "How can I assist you?"

"Cancel my dinner. I’m staying in tonight."

"Sir?"

"Cancel dinner. And call down to the kitchen and have them bring me more scotch. I think I need it."

"Of course Sir." He heard the voice answer from the other side of the door. "Right away Sir. Do you need anything else sir?"

"Another three regenerations. I’m not going to make it in this one with the way the twins are. They’re literally killing me here."

"Sir?" The voice called out. "I can hear you speaking but you’re not loud enough for me to understand. Do you need anything?"

"Just scotch," he called out bleakly. "Lots and lots of scotch."


End file.
